I had more fun working on Game Room than any other project I’ve ever worked on. The ‘game’ was a great idea, the team was superb and the technical challenges were about as tough as they get.
The title was built for Microsoft. We took multiple console and arcade titles and built a system that would emulate them perfectly on XBox and PC while allowing additional features to be added to allow a multi-player experience.
For each machine we emulated (console or arcade), we had to fully understand the hardware and emulate it at the lowest level possible. Each instruction would emulated exactly as it was in the original game.
By the end of the project we’d built 189 games (that got released) and well over 220 that had been completed but never saw the light of day. Each game had all CPU, GPU and audio hardware perfectly replicated.
We also built an environment to allow the player to store their consoles and arcade machines which was completely customizable. Content was released in a series of pack each containing multiple console and arcade titles.
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_WzzXYqLVKU
CES 2010: Robbie Bach shows GameRoom: https://vimeo.com/8642910 (Search to 1:07:00)
Walk through an arcade: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=087c79FB0rM
Here’s a few screenshots: –
